


Lines in the Sand

by LilithsTears (UpForTheFaery)



Category: Johnny Test (Cartoon)
Genre: Adaptation of Another Fanfic, Character Development, Consensual Underage Sex, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, I live off of your comments, Sibling Incest, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Taboo, Trying to do the idea justice, Underage Kissing, Underage Sex, Update every other week, pleAse validate me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 06:06:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9979739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpForTheFaery/pseuds/LilithsTears
Summary: One night Johnny wakes up to his sister who asks him a simple question: "Am I ugly?" From that moment his life would get more confusing that it ever was, and the nature of his relationship with his sister changes in ways neither could imagine.Whether that change is for the better or will cause the world to crash down around them, however, is to be seen as the Hands of Fate spin out before them.





	1. Prologue: A Question in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Johnny and the Limit](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/268853) by vic_elor. 



> Heyo, and welcome to my fic. The original was posted by vic_elor in 2012, and was one of the first fanfics I ever read. After being hit with a nostalgia bomb, I hunted down the original fic, Johnny and the Limit, and was both mildly surprised and underwhelmed. It was a fine fic (no insult it Vic, I mean, it was written well to an extent) but because it hasn't been continued since 2013, I figured I'd do my own version as tribute. So here it is! Enjoy the prologue.
> 
> Word of warning, this story is going to go on a very different path than the original, and it's going to be a way slower burn. I wanna make the feelings feel real.

Johnny's eyes fluttered open, glancing over to his alarm clock. The faint red glow of the numbers were clear in the shadows of his darkened room, reading 3:12 AM. He groaned and shifted to get more comfortable when he noticed he wasn't alone. At the foot of the bed, a dark figure was sitting.

Jolting upright, Johnny backed away from the figure who seemed startled by the sudden reaction. "Sorry," it whispered in a soft, vaguely feminine voice, "I didn't mean to startle you."

As Johnny processed the voice through his still groggy mind, he rubbed his face. "No, of course not, that's why you watched me sleep like some kind of creep; to  _not_ startle me. Good job, ten out of ten. Now leave me alone." Ignoring what he was now reasonably sure was one of his sisters, he curled up in his blankets.

"Johnny, I need to ask you something."

"Ask in the morning. It's the middle of the night." He started lightly jabbing his sister with his foot to push her off of his bed. She didn't move.

"Am I ugly?"

He paused, then sat up again, looking at his sister in confusion. "Sure, ask now or whatever. What kind of question is that?"

From the posture of her shadowy form, he could just make out the light shrug as she hung her head. "It's just that no matter what we do, Gil never notices us. He doesn't even seem to remember we exist. After two hundred and thirty-seven attempts to get him to to even so much as acknowledge us…we have nothing to show for it. And it's not just him! Eugene goes out of his way to ignore me, all the while hounding Susan like persistence is going to change the fact he's just some sleazy grease ball." Even with her voice barely at a whisper, he could hear the tension in each word. All of the sadness and confusion and doubt. He never heard any of his sisters sound like that. "Why do they both ignore me? Why does everyone ignore me? Am I not attractive enough? Smart enough? Interesting enough? I'm fifteen and already attend college and make groundbreaking inventions on a regular basis like they're nothing! How much more interesting and intelligent do I have to be in order for someone to remember I even exist!?"

Johnny watched as Mary broke down in tears, her voice steadily rising until it was almost a hysterical breathless scream. Laying a hand on her arm, he let her cry as he searched for words, then spoke quietly. "You're not ugly. You're beautiful, smart, and interesting and I don't know why guys ignore you." He paused. "Well, guess guys at your school are a whole lot older than you, so that has something to do with it. And I don't think Gil is really a good match for you. No offense, but he's kinda stupid. As for Bling-Bling, I have no idea why he ignores you. You're nicer than Susan. Maybe he's a masochist."

She sat there for a while before pulling him into a hug. He could feel her damp cheek press against his. "Thanks. That's really sweet of you. Uncharacteristically so."

Johnny yawned, then muttered, "What can I say? I'm mildly sleep deprived and desperate to go back to sleep. But I meant what I said." Awkwardly patting her back, he flipped down onto the bed. "Now go away. It's too early in the morning to deal with your sappy girly emotions. I got dreams to dream. Manly dreams. With explosions and zombies and exploding zombies."

Mary let out a laughter that was little more than a single forceful exhale through her nose. "Okay, Johnny. Thanks." As an afterthought, she added, "How do you even know what a masochist is?"

Without saying a word, he pointed to the dark lump on the floor that was the sleeping form of Dukey. "Alright, I guess that makes sense. Night, Johnny." With that, she slipped out of his room.


	2. Chapter I: Johnny and the Limit

The following morning at breakfast, Johnny couldn’t help but watch his sister, Mary. She acted the same as always, but now that he knew to look he could see the bags under her eyes, hidden behind her glasses. It’s obvious, in hindsight, that she hadn’t been sleeping well. Those feelings of hers must have eaten at her for a while, and thinking back to all the yawns and faltering smiles that he had noticed and forgotten. Watching her happily scarf down her breakfast and rush out with Susan, glancing over at Johnny with a smile, the murky memories of the previous mornings drifted to the forefront of his mind. For the first time in weeks she seemed truly well rested and enthusiastic and yet no one noticed that this was different, nor that she hadn’t even been that way all of those mornings before.

He didn’t know why, but it troubled him that something as large as Mary’s emotional troubles could have gone unnoticed even by their parents or her twin. Even more troubling that it had kept going until she felt the need to come to him for comfort.

“Johnny! I said you need to head down to the bus stop so you wont be late!” He was snapped out of his trance by the annoyed tone of his father. “Honestly, you had better not fall asleep in class today. What have I told you about stay up past your bedtime playing those silly games of yours!”

“Sorry, dad, I’ll get going.” Getting up from the table, his eyes met with Dukey, who was in turn watching him with concern. Together they hurried out he door and to the bus stop a block from his home.

“So,” Dukey said, drawing the word out as he searched for his next, “everything okay this morning? You’ve been lost in thought during breakfast! I haven’t seen you like this since you tried to figure out that twist in _Sleep Slip Span_.”

“First of all, that game made no sense.” He threw his hands into the air, and Dukey rolled his eyes as he braced himself for a lecture he had heard many times by now. “How could time travel that a person definitely won’t remember shape their personality so that they go psycho evil and build a group of clones built out of people who he forced into becoming him, and versions of himself from other points in his own past, two if which are _dead_?”

“Truly a grand philosophical question,” Dukey snarked.

“Secondly,” Johnny said, then trailed off with a pensive look that seemed alien on the thirteen year old’s face, “Have you notice anything odd about Mary lately?”

“No, why do you ask? Did something happen?”

Johnny knitted his brow as they came to a stop at the curb. “No. Well, yeah, I guess. She woke me up last night and asked me is she was ugly and started crying. It really weirded me out.”

“What!? Oh no, what did you do?” Dukey glared up at him, eyes premptively accusing Johnny of some wrong doing.

“Nothing! I just told her that she’s interesting and attractive and that maybe Gil wouldn’t be a good match for her.”

Dukey blinked. “That’s…uncharacteristically nice of you.”

Leveling his gaze, Johnny deadpanned, “Geez, it’s nice to know you have such a high opinion of me.”

“You know what I mean.” Dukey huffed, looking down the street towards the approaching bus. “I’m proud of you.”

“For what?”

“For saying what you did. It shows a lot of maturity.” Johnny groaned and Dukey snickered at the boy’s growing discomfort with the topic. “Now be a good boy and stay in school. Wouldn’t want to ruin your new reputation of being a thoughtful person now would we?”

The bus squealed as it came to a lurching stop in front of them, the door sliding open. Giving one last annoyed huff and sticking out his tongue towards Dukey, Johnny rushed onto the bus, ready to get this day over with and done.

**\---[.o.O.o.]---**

Johnny’s words from the night before raced through Mary’s head, like a raging storm of fluff and warmth. Twirling a pen in her fingers, she replayed the scene over and over again in her mind. She didn’t know what made her seek out her brother, but she was glad she did. It was amazing, she thought, what a few kind words could do for a troubled mind, and he had meant it.

Mary’s train of thought was broken by the loud snapping of fingers in front of her face. Jerking upright in her seat, she looked over at her sister who was trying to get her attention. “Geez, you’ve been such a space case lately,” Susan grumbled, flicking her textbook closed and packing away her stuff. “Not that you missed much. Today only covered stuff we’ve studied a hundred times over. I swear its sometimes feels like this place is as much of a waste of time as highschool would be.”

Packing away her things, Mary nodded, partially tuning out the same old complaint about their college. “Anyway, I was thinking we could go see test the dream machine to get it ready for Gil.” Susan said, before slipping into a dreamy vacant stare that Mary was used to, and sure she had shared the same look many times. Even though the mention of they boy’s name made something in her chest flutter, the feeling felt more muted, and as if on cue Mary thought of the words from last night. I don’t think Gil is really a good match for you. Was that true? Was the entire fantasy pointless in the end? Johnny had a point when he had said that Gil was kind of stupid. What if, in the end, she had somehow made him fall in love with her; what would there be to the relationship but shallow physical attraction?

As her sister rambled about her ideas of how to optimize the current version of their latest invention, Mary examined her feelings like a surgeon with a scalpel. This was more than simple kairosclerosis, and the mangled corpse of her emotions and attraction laid before her. For years she had felt so alone, with only her sister to share with and ever hope to be understood. The both of them latched onto Gil, the only boy their age in the lives, and who didn’t even notice that they were even there. They were child prodigies, having skipped through highschool and gone straight to PIT at an unreasonably young age. Their age and intellect has always isolated them in school, and Gil was the closest they had ever come to some one who could be considered a love interest. She didn’t really love him in the end, only what she had made him up to be.

It was a sobering thought, that she didn’t love the boy she obsessed over. Why did she chase him so persistently, as if that would change the fact they’d never work out?

Her breath caught in her throat. She was like Eugene, constantly chasing someone that would never embrace her. Were they both so isolated that they’d cling to the first person that has a chance to drag them out of what ever hole they reside in? Were they so desperate that they’d do anything to get someone to pay attention to them and understand? But someone did understand. Johnny, her annoying little brother who seemed to hyperactive to pay attention to how others feel most of the time, had comforted her and had made her realize all of this with only a few words. In that moment, she felt her attraction for Gil loosen, and it felt like she was floating after being grounded for an eternity. As her sister talked and they made their way home, Mary closed her eyes and smiled, reveling in the freedom of finally letting go.

**\---[.o.O.o.]---**

The day passed by at a crawl as Johnny stayed trapped in his thoughts, finally making it home after what felt like years sitting in classes. He stepped into the empty house: his parents off on a date night and his sisters undoubtedly up in their lab. “Dukey, I’m home.” Dumping his bag in his room, he goes back to the living room where he finds an exhausted looking Dukey sipping coffee and turning on the TV. “Rough day?”

“You do not know the half of it. I found a flier advertising free stake but the shop was all the way on the other side of town. Not only that, the offer had expired yesterday, so after hours looking for some random shop to get a taste of divinity, all I found was a mouth full of bitter disappointment.” He swirled the contents of his mug with a forlorned expression. “Oh woe is me. Truly terrible.”

“Well maybe you should have paid attention to the date,” Johnny said, plopping down and yanking the remote away from Dukey and turning to a rerun of some random cartoon.

“Yeah yeah yeah, it was still a disappointment.” Dukey muttered, taking another sip. “How was school?”

“Awful as always.” Johnny slumped further into the couch. He was going to say something else when he heard one of his sisters call his name. “Oh come on, not now,” he said, getting up and off the couch as if being pulled by a rope tied around his chest. Just outside of the living room, Mary was standing by the the stairs.

“Um, what do you want?” Johnny asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “You feeling okay?”

Mary paused after opening her mouth, searching for her words. “Yeah, I’m feeling great,” she said, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. “I just wanted to say thank again, for last night.”

“No problem. Did you sleep well? I noticed you’ve been pretty tired lately. I’m guessing it was because of…you know. That. All of that, and stuff.”

Her smile grew and she pulled him into a hug. “Hey!” Johnny yelped in surprise, pushing against the hug before giving up and accepting his fate. “Ugh, why are you trying to torture me.”

“Because you’re my brother and its fun.” She pulled back, and patted his head as if he were a particularly amusing pet. “Anyways I was wondering,” she started, an unsure look passing over her features, “would you mind if I took you to the movies this weekend? To show my appreciation for everything and to say sorry for all the experiments lately.”

“Um, okay, I guess, if it’d make you feel better,” he said. “Just no boring chick movie.”

“Deal. Well, I should go up and help Susan.” She hugged him one last time before running up the stairs, casting a final glance over her shoulder. Johnny could help but feel that she looked more relaxed, as if unburdened by the weight of the world for the first time in forever. Despite the awkwardness of it all, he was glad he could help her.

Stepping back into the living room, he plopped down onto the couch next to Dukey, who had just finished his coffee. “So,” Dukey said, putting the emptied cup onto the table next to him, “what’d they want?”

“Mary wanted to thank me for…you know.” Johnny felt a warmth come over his face, and he focused on the TV in hopes of ignoring it. “She asked if I wanted to go to the movies with her, to make up for all the experiments or whatever.”

“Oh, that's cool,” Dukey said, What are you guys going to see?”

Johnny frowned, shrugging. “Dunno. Hey, is it just me, or has Mary’s been acting weird?”

Arching a brow, Dukey leaned forward. “How so?” he asked.

“I don’t know, it’s just, she was really huggy earlier and it was kinda weirding me out, and she was being way nicer than normal.”

Dukey didn’t respond for a while before smirking and leaning back. “She’s just trying to show her appreciation for how good of a little brother you are. Comforting her, helping with experiments, worrying about her. You’re practically an angel.”

Gagging, Johnny rolled his eyes and tossed the remote at the dog. “Barf. And for your information, I have to be bribed for those experiments. And what was I supposed to do last night? She was crying! I couldn’t just kick her out of my room.”

“What ever you say,” Dukey snickered. “You know you helped because you love your sisters, and you’re just a sweet dutiful brother deep deep down.” As Dukey cackled and mocked him, Johnny couldn’t help but feel slightly ashamed and decided from then on to try to be a better brother. Even if just slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm gonna try to update every other week, so try to stick with me. Since I live on attention please comment and leave a kudos. If you see any errors or some way to improve, please tell me as I need all the criticism I can take

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: geez had some rouble naming this chapter and making sure there was the little 1/? Chapter thing. Ended up having to delete it and swap things around until I got it right.
> 
> Edit redux: goddess above I'm stupid and I've learned what I did wrong. It's my own fault for not clicking the multi chapter box that I somehow didn't see. That's what I get for posting at 1 in the morning I guess.


End file.
